The Department of Justice’s U.S. Trustee Program said on April 17, 2026, that it obtained a judgment requiring a national consumer bankruptcy law firm to return $196,527 in fees to clients after finding deficient legal services and violations of the Bankruptcy Code. For bankruptcy practitioners and firms operating at scale, the judgment is a pointed reminder that fee collection, client…
Continue Reading DOJ Secures $196,527 Refund Order Against Consumer Bankruptcy Firm

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s April 13, 2026 scheduling order in IPR2026-00094 is procedural rather than merits-driven, but it still deserves attention from PTAB practitioners. Scheduling orders set the roadmap for an inter partes review, and in practice they can shape strategy just as much as a substantive ruling by fixing the timing for briefing, discovery, expert work, and…
Continue Reading PTAB Issues Scheduling Order in IPR2026-00094: Key Deadlines and Practice Implications

The U.S. Supreme Court on April 17, 2026 handed Chevron a significant procedural victory in long-running Louisiana coastal-damage litigation, unanimously ruling that the company may pursue removal to federal court in a major suit brought by Plaquemines Parish. The decision does not resolve the merits of the parish’s land-loss and environmental damage claims, but it strengthens a key defense strategy…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Opens Federal-Court Door for Chevron in Louisiana Coastal Suits

The U.S. Supreme Court on April 17 issued a closely watched First Amendment ruling in Kaley Chiles, Petitioner v. Patty Salazar, in Her Official Capacity as Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, et al., holding that Colorado’s law restricting licensed counselors from attempting to change a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity must be evaluated under…
Continue Reading Supreme Court Applies Strict First Amendment Review to Colorado’s Conversion-Therapy Ban

Illinois lawmakers are drawing national attention with proposed House and Senate bills that would tighten restrictions on how law firms interact with alternative business structure and management-service organization models. While the measures have not been enacted, they stand out because they go directly to some of the most contested questions in the legal industry: who can own, manage, and profit…
Continue Reading Illinois Bills Put Private Equity and Law Firm Business Models Under the Microscope

The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division, joined by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, has filed a civil antitrust case against The New York and Presbyterian Hospital, alleging the hospital used contractual restrictions that limited insurers’ ability to steer patients to lower-cost providers.

The case, United States Of America v. New York Presbyterian Hospital…
Continue Reading DOJ Targets NewYork-Presbyterian in Steering Restrictions Antitrust Suit

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board terminated IPR2025-01302 after the parties settled following institution of trial, illustrating the Board’s usual approach when a dispute becomes moot before a final written decision. The order is a reminder that, even after institution, settlement can still bring an IPR to a close—though timing and procedural posture matter.

Under 35 U.S.C. § 317 and…
Continue Reading PTAB Ends IPR2025-01302 After Post-Institution Settlement

The U.S. Supreme Court moved a major Trump-related dispute onto its docket, signaling that the justices are prepared to weigh in on one of the most legally and politically charged issues of the term: the challenge to President Donald Trump’s birthright-citizenship executive order and, just as importantly, the scope of nationwide injunctions entered against federal policy.

The case, Donald J. …
Continue Reading Supreme Court Takes Up Trump Birthright Citizenship Fight